The first Sikh Chief Justice of India, Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar (retd), was on Saturday named one of the seven recipients of Padma Vibhushan, the country’s top civilian honor.
Others on the list are leading gastroenterologist from Karnataka Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy, late Maruti Suzuki CEO Osamu Suzuki, Kathak dancer Kumudini Rajnikant Lakhia, violinist and composer from Karnataka Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, doyen of Malayalam literature and cinema MT Vasudevan Nair and late folk singer from Bihar Sharda Sinha.
Former CJI Khehar was chosen in the public affairs segment and Suzuki in trade and industry for igniting the growth of the Indian automobile sector. Suzuki took the risk of joining hands with India to form a joint venture, Maruti Udyog, in 1981, when India was still a closed economy.
This year, the Padma list comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri awards. Twenty-three awardees are women. The list includes 10 persons from the category of foreigners, NRI, PIO and OCI and 13 posthumous awardees. The awards are conferred by the President at ceremonial functions at Rashtrapati Bhawan in March/April every year. For 2025, the President approved conferment of 139 Padma awards, including one duo case where the award is counted as one.
Among Padma Bhushan awardees are legendary Indian hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who helped the Indian men’s hockey team win two Olympic bronze medals at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024; A Surya Prakash, former chairperson, Prasar Bharati; late Bibek Debroy, who served as the chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM; Jose Chacko Periappuram, a cardiac surgeon from Kerala; Kailash Nath Dikshit, an archaeologist specialising in prehistoric civilisation of the Indus Valley; Manohar Joshi, former Maharashtra CM and former Lok Sabha Speaker; late ghazal singer Pankaj Udhas; leading filmmaker Shekhar Kapur; late BJP leader Sushil Modi; and spiritual leader Sadhvi Ritambhara.
Padma Shri awardees include singers Arijit Singh and Jaspinder Narula, AIIMS-Delhi head of gynaecology department Neerja Bhatla and music composer and environmentalist and three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej. From the North region, the following feature among Padma Shri awardees: Farooq Ahmad Mir (J&K) for art; Hariman Sharma (Himachal Pradesh) for inventing an apple variety that can grow at low altitudes; leading Gurbani singer Harjinder Singh Srinagar Wale (Punjab) for art; star para archer Harvinder Singh (Kaithal); Lalit Kumar Mangotra (J&K) for literature; Lama Lobzang for spiritualism; and Onkar Singh Pahwa (Punjab) for trade and industry. Harjinder Singh recently performed at the antim ardas of late PM Manmohan Singh. Source: TNS